Is Adani-owned Trainman a threat to IRCTC? Controversy brews

The IRCTC has rubbished charges that Trainman will become its competitor now that the Adani Group has acquired the latter online train booking and information platform.

The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) handles ticket services for the Indian Railways, and Trainman is one of its 32 authorised 32 B2C partners.

Trainman contributes a mere 0.13 per cent of the total reserved ticketing volume, IRCTC said in a statement on Sunday (June 18). It added that 81 per cent of the 14.5 lakh reserved railway tickets booked daily are e-tickets done through IRCTC.

“This is a misleading statement. Trainman is one of the 32 authorised B2C (Business to Customer) partners of IRCTC. Changing the stake won’t make any difference. All integration and operations will continue to be done through IRCTC. It will only complement IRCTC and is not a threat or challenge to IRCTC,” the IRCTC tweeted in Hindi.

यह भ्रामक कथन है। Trainman IRCTC के 32 अधिकृत बी2सी (बिजनेस टू कस्टमर) भागीदारों में से एक है। हिस्सेदारी बदलने से इसमे कोई अंतर नहीं आयेगा। सभी एकीकरण और संचालन IRCTC के माध्यम से किए जाते रहेंगे। यह केवल IRCTC का पूरक होगा और IRCTC के लिए कोई खतरा या चुनौती नहीं है। https://t.co/7ERSbMj6JR

— IRCTC (@IRCTCofficial) June 18, 2023

The tweet came in response to one from Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleging that the Adani Group first competed with the IRCTC and has now “taken over”. Adani Enterprises Ltd announced on Friday (June 16) that it would fully acquire Trainman’s operator Stark Enterprises.

IRCTC explained in the statement that it has B2B, EGovernance, or B2C partnerships with many agencies to help it reach out to citizens for easy e-ticketing. It claimed “there is no competition between IRCTC and its agents”.

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It added that B2C firms are integrated with the IRCTC to provide reserved e-ticketing services to customers directly through their websites or mobile apps through the IRCTC interface.